It’s been a mind-bending several weeks in the world. From the pacifist-driven, successful democratic uprisings in the Middle East to the proposal of a budget by President Barack Obama that, while its final form will most likely be significantly altered, for the first time emphasizes clean energy and takes government money away from fossil fuel companies. If you were to sum up many of the events of the last several weeks that, at one point, society as a whole essentially said “could never happen,” you’d have a happily long list.
In each of those changes, individuals believed, led and fought tirelessly over decades (sometimes longer) to bring the change. From the large (overthrowing a dictator of decades with minimal bloodshed) to the small (bipartisan seating at the State of the Union), change is happening. But the important lesson to take away in reference to the postconsumer movement is that change is happening because people believed, and they worked tirelessly.
If there’s one frustration that we hear over and over again as we speak to postconsumers across the nation, it’s their concern with not being sufficiently able to help others reduce their emotional dependence on “stuff” and find the satisfaction of enough – both for their own personal happiness and for the health of the planet. One thing we’re sure of is that at one point clean energy activists weren’t certain they would ever see a president propose a budget with huge renewable energy funding in it. We’re sure that Egyptians and Tunisians alike at one point said that there would never be a government by the people in those countries. But look what’s happened lately!
The same goes with advocating for postconsumerism. No change happens over night, and as a society we’ve spent years having the values of consumerism branded into our brains. Collective change or understanding of other ways to live won’t happen right away. In fact, they may not happen for years. But as a group, it’s our belief that this change can happen through our willingness to continue to walk the walk and educate others that, someday, we will be enjoying a satisfaction not driven by the consumer media and material goods.
We know you want to believe! Like us on Facebook to find a community of other people who believe that change is possible!
